Cola
by Marshmallows
Summary: I know it's been way too long, but at least i updated!
1. First day

I sighed, trying for the fiftieth time to get the handcuffs off my wrists. It obviously wasn't happening. Why, you ask, am I handcuffed? Simple. I'm on my way to camp green lake- a BOYS detention camp- in the middle of nowhere Texas. Again, why? Well, to put it simply, I was out pretty late one night, trying to stay away from my mom as long as possible and three guys from a local gang tried to rape me. I didn't let it happen, and I put them all in the hospital, one in critical condition. Apparently, the judge thought I took it a little too far, so I have a year and a half in an all guys' camp. Oh joy, oh bliss. The only guy that I've ever been close to was my brother, Ricky. I look just like him, only I'm about seven inches shorter. He's in a detention camp too, but I forgot where. I keep my blonde hair in a constant ponytail or braid and try to make sure guys don't notice me by wearing baggy clothes and sports bras, but it doesn't seem to work. Once, when mom was feeling nice, she said it was because I had a beautiful face.

But anyway, on the bus to camp let's-all-die-of-heatstroke, the guard stared at me. I glared back, fire burning in my blue eyes. I shifted my foot so the switchblade stuck in my sock wasn't giving me a blister. I didn't trust any of those guys for a second. I knew better. I looked at the purity ring Ricky had given me for my 15th birthday, the day before he left. It was just a plain silver band, but it meant a lot to me. He knew that I'd wanted one for a long time. We were extremely close. I was the only one he'd never been paranoid about.

A bump in the road jolted me back to reality, and we stopped in front of what looked to be an extremely old town. Boys in orange prison-like suits glanced me up and down, like I was a piece of meat. I glared. The guard led me to an air-conditioned office where a man was eating sunflower seeds.

"This the girl?" he asked, looking hard at me. 'Duh,' I thought to myself.

The guard nodded. "Astrid Brown?" I nodded. "My name is Mr. Sir, that is how you will address me at all times." I tuned him out while he gave me the ugly orange suits, but was jolted when he told me to change. I gave him the evil eye but turned around and put on the jumpsuit and kept my boots on so he wouldn't see the knife. I know what I look like in a black sports bra and underwear. I'm toned and stronger than I look. I put my black tank top back on and tied the sleeves around my waist.

Just then, an overly perky freaky-looking guy came in, happy as can be. I raised my eyebrows. "Astrid Brown, I'm Dr. Pendanski. You will be in D-tent. 'D' stands for diligence." That's where I began to tune him out and wonder what kind of freak show this could turn out to be. "...And here's the tent." We entered a tent to find seven boys either on cots or on the floor playing some kind of game with rocks. I was glad I'd brought my cards. "Boys, this is Astrid. I suggest you treat her with respect, she might kill you otherwise. I have to go to the staff meeting, so I'll let you introduce yourselves." He ran out of the room.

A black boy with glasses who was just an inch shorter than me stood up. "I'm X-Ray. That's Squid-"white boy chewing on a toothpick "-Armpit-"overweight black boy with a friendly grin on his face "-Magnet-"Hispanic boy holding the rocks "-Caveman-"tall white guy with an orange baseball cap over his curly hair "-Zero-" short black boy laying on his cot away from the rest of them. "Wait. Where the heck is Ziggy?" he asked, looking around. Everyone shrugged.

"I'm right here- Astrid?" he asked. I turned and saw my brother staring at me wide-eyed.

"No freakin' way!" I yelled, hugging him. We hadn't seen each other in almost a year, so I was pretty excited to see him.

"Brother and sister?" Squid asked cautiously.

"Yep. I showed you guys a picture of her once, remember?"

"This is that chica you were throwing the cake at?" Magnet asked.

"The one and only!" I laughed. He came closer, looking like he wanted to touch me. "Touch me and die, chico. Se matarle con mis manos peladas." (I know how to kill you with my bare hands) I warned him. He backed off.

"What'd you say?" X-Ray asked.

"I know how to kill you with my bare hands. In other words don't touch me. It won't be pretty." He took a step back.

"What are you here for anyhow?" Armpit asked me while I put my stuff down on my cot.

"I almost killed a guy for trying to rape me. The other two got out of the hospital last week. The one's in critical condition," I said, very matter of fact.

"That's my sister! So you're still a virgin?" Ricky (Ziggy?) asked. I nodded.

"You just asked her that? Dude, my sister woulda killed me!" Squid laughed.

I rolled my eyes. "Uh, hello? When your stepdad's crazy and locks you in the bedroom from the time he gets there, you get to know each other. Extremely well." I pulled the knife from my boot and slipped it into my pocket.


	2. Midnight and the first hole

That night, I couldn't sleep. Not that I ever did anyway. But sometime around midnight, I heard soft sobs coming from the cot on my right- Squids. "Squid?" I whispered, touching his shoulder gently.

He sniffed and looked up at me. "I'm fine, Astrid, go back to sleep."

"I don't sleep. What's wrong?" I sat on the side of his cot. He sat up as well, but didn't say anything. "Come on. You can trust me with any secret. I still hold secrets from the first grade." That's true, too.

He took a shaky breath. I put my hand on his back, knowing that even to a kid who'd been beaten, it was comfort. "Mom used to beat me all the time. Threw beer bottles at my head, locked me in a tiny closet. I have nightmares about it all the time. If I stay down in my hole too long, I freak out, so I have to get out every once in a while, to make sure I still can, you know? I'm claustrophobic." He was crying as he told me this. Not being able to think of anything else, I hugged him. He tensed at first, then hugged back, resting his head on my shoulder, sobbing. I saw X-ray sit up, but I motioned for him to lie down. He shook his head but did anyway.

"It's gonna be all right, Squid. You don't have to worry about that here."

"I know. But it still comes back every night." He paused to sniffle a little. "You know, strange as this may sound, I thing this is the first time anyone's ever touched me without hurting me. You know, for a long period of time. "

I hugged him a little longer. "Come on. We have to dig tomorrow." I let go of him and squeezed his hand. "Goodnight Squid. Sweet dreams."

"Goodnight Astrid." I lay back down on my cot. About 10 minutes later, "Astrid?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

I smiled. "Anytime, sugar, anytime." I finally slept, but only until four. That's when I woke up and dressed for the day, then lay there, sketching Zero's hands. His cot was on my left side. He has these amazing hands. They're small, but the fingers are slightly too long, making them beautiful. Then I began to sketch the rest of him, shading, erasing, my tongue stuck between my teeth. Just as I finished, he stirred.

"Is that me?" he asked sleepily. I nodded. "Can I see it?" I gave it to him. His eyes went wide. "You drew that?"

"Yeah. I got bored, and you're good subject material. Plus, I like your hands. It's a bit of an obsession, ask Rick- er... ZigZag. I've always been fascinated with them."

He raised his eyebrows slightly, but said nothing. "I heard you and Squid talking last night."

"How much did you hear?"

"All of it. ZigZag always said you were a nice person, but you barely know any of us. Why aren't you worried about any of us?" He asked curiously.

"Well, you see, I know ZigZag would kill anyone who tried to hurt me, even if I'd already done it, and like I said yesterday, I know how to kill you, or put you in so much pain you wished you were dead. Plus, I have my switchblade."

He nodded. "Well, that was nice of you. Don't worry, I won't tell. Secrets are safe with me to. And just so you know, I don't sleep either. Not normal hours most of the time anyway. Despite what everyone thinks, I'm here to talk if you want."

"Would y'all shut up?" X-ray muttered. Then he shot up. "Crap! You got Zero to talk! Yo everybody! Astrid got Zero to talk!"

Everybody woke up grumbling and muttering at him to shut up. "Man, only Caveman gets him to talk," Armpit grumbled. There were 'Yeah's heard all over the tent.

"Maybe Caveman's the only one who listens," I spoke up. Caveman smiled and ducked his head, slightly embarrassed. I just laughed while the bell rang. The guys groaned. "Come on, lazy guys. There's holes to dig and fun to be had by all. Come on!" I got up and started to shake Ricky, as he was still asleep. "Come on, I know you're awake, brother of mine."

He hid his head under the pillow. "Bug off, Astrid."

"No way. I haven't been able to do this for a whole year! Come on, Get up before I tip the cot over."

"No."

I sighed, exasperated. "Listen, _Richard_, either you get up or I'll get you back later. Trust me, bud, I have blackmail," I whispered the last part in his ear.

He shot straight up. "Okay! I'm up! Let's go!"

I smirked as we all left the tent and got the shovels of doom.

(Cut to lunch)

By lunch, I was just behind Zero in digging, and he was way over halfway done. When the water truck of mercy came though, I was more than grateful for the break. I hardly had any blisters on my hands because I lifted weights and played sports so much they were already toughened up quite a bit. I tried unsuccessfully once to get out of my hole, but fell back in.

A black hand reached down to pull me up. I took it and found that the hand belonged to Armpit. "Thanks."

He shrugged. "No problem."

We got our lunches and I sat with Ricky, Squid, and Magnet. Somewhere along the line, we got into an argument about which was better: Pepsi or Coca-Cola. I was the only vote for Coke.

"Coca-Cola! Seriously! It's like, the original! The original's always the best!" I yelled above the three guys.

X-ray rolled his eyes. "Hey Cola! Shut up and dig, okay? You're drivin' me crazy!"

I threw an apple core at him and finished digging about five minutes after Zero. I hoisted myself out and spat in the hole, like I'd seen him do, then walked slowly back to the tent, where I showered and fell asleep on my cot. Zero was already out.


	3. interesting things go on here

I know that when X-ray and Squid came back, they thought I was asleep, because they started talking about me. I kept my eyes closed and listened to them, wondering what in the world they had to say.

Squid's cot creaked. "I think she's asleep. Anyway, what were you gonna ask me?" he asked.

I felt X-ray sit by my feet and touch my knee. "Is anything going on between you two? I saw you last night."

Squid groaned. "No, that was no big thing. Just a late night talk. Why?"

X-ray sighed and shifted. "Well I..." He trailed off.

"You like her. Come on, man, I know. I would too if I didn't have Candy back home."

"No! Well... uh... yeah, actually. But... how do I get her attention without-"

"Making yourself look stupid? Well, here's a thought, X. Talk to her."

"About what? All I know is that she doesn't like to be touched and she prefers Coca-Cola to Pepsi." He sounded so lost.

I stretched and pretended I was just waking up. "Hey guys. What's up?"

They both shrugged.

I rolled my eyes. "Well, I was gonna go play pool, If either of you want to join me."

Squid kicked X-ray's shin. "Oh, uh, I'll go," X-ray spoke up, following me. We fell into step beside each other. I was smiling, glad to know why he always looked away when I looked at him. "What are you so happy about?"

I grinned. "I know a secret."

He snorted. "There's plenty of secrets around here, Cola. You got to be a bit more specific."

"I always keep secrets. If you looked inside my head, you'd still find secrets from the first grade," I laughed.

"Can you tell me whose secret it is?"

I smirked. "Nope. Tell you what. If I win at pool, I don't tell you. But if you win... there might be a surprise in store for you."

He shrugged and picked up a cue stick. "Your break or mine?"

"Yours." He broke and got stripes. We played a close game until it was down to the 8 ball, his shot. He made it.

"Now what's the surprise?" He asked.

I kissed him and whispered, "Never assume I'm asleep. I hear everything."

I left, the whole thing going unnoticed by everyone but us. While I was filling my canteen, a huge ape of a guy stood next to me.

"Hey Lil' gal. Wanna come back to my tent?" He asked suggestively.

I bit my lip, pretending to consider it. "See this ring? It means I'm gonna be a virgin until I'm married, and I'll kill you if you try to take that away from me."

He grabbed my right arm, thinking it was my dominant hand. Boy was he wrong. "Come on, I don't got all day."

I punched him right in the nose and shoved my knee in his gut. He let go.

"It'll be a cold day in hell before I let you or anyone else touch me like that," I said in a soft, dangerous voice. I turned to leave and saw X-ray standing about two yards away, staring at me. I walked up to him. "Let's go back in where we don't have to deal with creeps like him."

He took my hand and held it tightly. "You're good at that."

I shrugged as we walked back into the tent and dropped each other's hands, but not before Squid saw it. "Hey everybody...." Everyone looked at him."Cola and X are-"

"Shut up!" We both yelled. I was blushing furiously.

"What, y'all like each other?" Armpit asked.

"Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later," Magnet laughed. "But Cola, Come on, sweet thang, what about me?" He joked.

I played along. "Magnet, it just couldn't work. Besides, didn't you say something earlier about having a girl back home?" I laughed. Everybody was rolling by now. Ricky's face was red from laughing so hard.

Once we all calmed down and everything, I got my sketchbook and began to sketch X-ray and Squid talking. They were so deep in conversation they didn't even notice. Then I sketched Caveman writing a letter, chewing on the pen cap.

"Cola! Come back to reality, chica!" Magnet's accent laughed.

I blinked. "Huh?"

He sat at my feet. "So how was the first hole?"

"Not bad at all. Check it out, no major blisters." I showed him my hands.

He raised his eyebrows. "Dang. My first hole, I couldn't move my hands after. You act like it's nothing."

I shrugged. "I used to run in the heat of the day all the time, and I did weight training after school to stay away from my stepdad, the jerk." I laughed. "I think I was the only girl in there."

He smiled. "Fun stuff. So you really like X-ray, huh?" I nodded. "Please don't tell me you're gonna be one of those girls who won't hang out with guys when she's got a boyfriend."

I rolled my eyes. "Fat chance. I don't have any girls to talk with anyway; besides, y'all are cool."

He laughed. "If you say so, Cola."

"Anyone wanna play truth or dare?" Armpit asked out of the clear blue sky.

We all looked at each other, then at him. "Ah, Why not? It's something to do," Ricky spoke up. We got into a circle and stared at each other.

"Okay, I'll go! Squid, Truth or Dare?" Pit asked.

Squid rolled his eyes. "Dare."

Pit got an evil look in his eyes. "Go stand in the middle of the camp and sing 'I feel pretty'"

"WHAT? ARE YOU CRAZY?"

"Yeah, go do it."

Muttering, Squid left the tent and stood in the middle of the camp and started to sing at the top of his lungs. Within seconds, everyone who could hear was rolling on the ground laughing and he was beet red. When he came back, we all clapped while he bowed. "That was interesting. Okay, umm... Caveman..."

He groaned. "Truth, I'm not stupid."

"Have you ever seen a girl naked?"

We all laughed while he turned bright red. "Well, there was this one time when I was looking out the window of our apartment, there was this girl changing... What, like you wouldn't look!" He challenged the guys.

"One more thing. Was she hot?" Squid asked. He nodded.

"Magnet, Truth or Dare?"

He rolled his eyes. "Dare."

"Walk up to B-tent and Sing the 7-Up theme song."

"What? Oh, yeah, I know that song." He jogged over to B-tent and started singing, "7-UP, it's the up thing, it's cool and it's clear and it's lemon and lime-"over and over.

"SHUT UP, FREAK!" one of the boys bellowed.

Magnet ran back, laughing that stupid laugh of his. "Cola, truth or dare."

"Dare me."

"Crap, uh-"Ricky whispered something in his ear. "Okay. This was Zig's idea, not mine. Stand on your head until we're done."

I smacked Ricky over his head and did as I was asked. "Zig, truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"Go stand in front of Mr.Sir's office and sing 'Man, I feel Like a Woman'."

"I hate you," he muttered as he walked past me.

"I love you too!" I yelled after him.

He sang his song and came back. "Did I mention I hate you? Mr.Sir's gonna admit me to the psycho ward."

"Light's out in five minutes!" Pendanski yelled into the tent.

I flipped up into the normal standing position. "Whoa. That was stupid," I said, sitting down. Ricky chuckled. I turned towards the wall to change and felt several pairs of eyes on me. "No staring!" I snapped, spinning around, wearing only my sports bra and underwear. They all looked elsewhere. "That's what I thought." I pulled on my shorts and tank top.

"You done?" Ricky asked.

"Yep." We all laid down on our cots. "Goodnight guys."

"Night."

"Buenos Noches," Magnet called. The lights went out and everyone, even me, fell asleep.


	4. karatechopping the gnats

When I woke up the next morning, I felt someone watching me closely. I opened my right eye and saw X-ray's eyes (or rather, his glasses) staring back at me.

"What the heck?" I whispered, rubbing my eyes. "What's up?"

"Zig told me to make sure you weren't dead because you weren't talking in your sleep like normal," he whispered back, sitting down. I rolled my eyes. "I know. Strange. But anyway... you heard me and Squid?"

"Yeah."

"I'm glad you did. I wouldn't have had the guts to do anything about it."

I snorted. "Yeah right."

"No, seriously. I'm a geek back home."

"You?"  
"Me." He looked down, then back at me. "Where do you live?"

"Vega. In the panhandle."

His eyes got wide behind his glasses. "I live right outside Vega."

I smiled. "Sweet."

He reached up and touched my face with gentle hands. So gentle, you wouldn't know that he'd ever dug a hole, or worked a day in his life. Callused, sure, but not aggressive. I took off his glasses while he caught his hands in my hair and pulled me to him, kissing me softly, just as the bell rang.

"Oh baby, Oh baby!" Squid laughed at us. "Look guys! It's the lovebirds!"

We were still kissing when Ricky separated us. "Get off my sister!" he yelled. "You don't touch her!" He shoved X-ray away from me.

I shot up, facing him. "Richard Louis Brown! I can decide who I like on my own! Just because you don't-"

"Damn straight I don't approve! You're 15! He's 16!"

I rolled my eyes. "Listen, _Richard_, when you started dating, you dated girls younger than you! Get a grip!" I yelled, pulling myself up to my full height. "Believe it or not, I can take care of myself!" I turned away and changed, then pulled my hair up as I stomped out of the tent, muttering in Spanish.

"What's eatin' you?" Mr. Sir asked.

I spun around. "Sibling rivalry, Mr. Sir."

"Sibling?"

"Ricky. Zigzag."

"Work it out or you'll change tents."

"Yes Mr. Sir."

"I'm warning you!" He yelled at one of the boys, running after him.

I grabbed my tortilla and a shovel, then began following Pendanski and the rest out to the lakebed. I didn't talk that day. I used my anger as strength and dug through the soreness in my shoulders and the tears in my eyes. Ricky and I never fought. We were always close. "Astrid!" Pendanski yelled. "Water!"

I climbed out of my hole and finished off my water, then brought it to him to fill. "The _name_ is Cola." He shoved it in my chest and left. I jumped back in my hole.

"Chica! Your hands are bleeding bad!" Magnet yelled, jogging over to me.

I looked at my hands, covered in blood. "So?"

"So? Cola!" He jumped into my hole and took my shovel, then poured a little water from each of our canteens onto my hands. I winced. "I know it hurts. X! Get over here!" X-ray walked over and jumped in my hole. "Got a bandanna?"

He reached into his pocket and pulled out an old gray cloth. "Close enough. What'd you do?" He asked me while he ripped it into two strips.

"I don't know. I didn't even notice until Magnet started freaking out." I gasped in pain when he tied it.

"Sorry, but it's gotta stay on, Cola." I shrugged and he tied the other one. "Can you move your fingers okay?"

I wiggled my fingers. "Yeah, I'm good," I lied. It hurt so bad to move at all, I knew I wouldn't be able to dig right. They went back to digging. After about ten minutes, so did I. Holding the shovel made my hands burn, but I kept going.

"Are you okay?" Zero asked me when he finished. I shook my head and showed him my hands. "I'm not even gonna ask. Do you want some help?"

"No, I'm fine," I lied again.

"Really, Astrid, you can't lie for crap." He started digging with me and we finished the hole. I got out and pulled him up. "Thanks." We started walking back. "So you and X-ray..."

I smiled. "Yeah."

He shook his head. "I never thought I'd see Zigzag yell at you. The way he talked about you, you hung the moon, you know? He called you 'Angel girl'. He never really talked to me, but you know me. I don't sleep. I hear it all. And it's all true, too." He looked down.

"That's sweet of you."

"Hey, I'm just letting you know. He worries about you."

I threw my shovel down. "Well, that's peachy, really it is. But in case you haven't noticed, I can take care of myself. Turn around while I change, okay?" He did and I put on my bathing suit and grabbed my clothes. "Okay. Anyhow, I have to shower." I slipped on my sandals and walked to the showers, glad the camp was deserted. I slid the two tokens in and washed myself under the icy cold water. It felt good to clean up. I barely rinsed my hair out when it shut off. I dried off and changed quickly as Squid walked by.

"Cola!" he called. I tied my sleeves and walked over to him, brushing my hair. "I'm sorry about this morning. I didn't mean to start anything between you and Zig."

"No problem. Take a shower and I'll beat you in pool."

He laughed. "Sure. But I'll be beating you."

"In your dreams!" I yelled after him. I tossed my stuff on my cot and headed to the rec. room. I hadn't really been in there too much. I zoned out, thinking about mom, wondering if she was okay. Knowing her, she'd move, not tell us, and we'd be homeless. But what did I care? She was the one who married that jerk after dad died.

"Cola? Are you okay?" Squid asked. I turned to him with tears running down my face. "I'll take that as a no." He pulled me to him. "What's wrong? Come on, you can tell me."

"Astrid?" Ricky asked. I looked up. He was still soaked from his shower. "Come on. We need to talk," he said, gently pulling me away. I followed him out behind the mess hall. We sat down and he pulled me into a hug that I'd missed since he left. The hug I got when Dave beat my back with a board. The hug I got when kids teased me at school. "I'm sorry I..."

"I know. Me too."

"But really, I need to control that. I just still think of you as a little kid. I mean, you grew up when I left."

"Shut up."

"Anyway," he said, rolling his eyes, "You do what you want. But if he hurts you, I promise I'll kill him."

"I know you will. He won't try anything. He's seen me beat up a guy for flirting... He knows I won't let anyone get in my pants."

"So does everyone else in the tent," he laughed. "Come on. Weren't you supposed to beat Squid in pool?"

"Yep." I got up and jogged to the rec. room. There still weren't too many guys in there, and Squid was still waiting for me. "Come on Squid, your break," I said, standing over the pool table, my long hair forming a cave around me.

He shrugged. "Your funeral." He broke and nothing went in. "I meant to do that."

"Sure, whatever you say," I said. I smiled. The eight ball was in direct line of the left corner pocket. "Eight ball in the corner- OW!" I yelled as some jerk from A-tent smacked my butt. I whipped out my switchblade and shoved him against the wall, holding it to his neck. "You touch me again and I'll slit your throat while you're sleeping," I warned, my voice going soft and dangerous. Everything stopped and he turned pale as a ghost. He nodded and I let him go. "Okay, show's over!" I yelled, going back to the game.

"What the...." Squid started to ask as the eight ball went in. "Crap!!"

I smiled. "What was that all about? All I saw was you holding a guy to the wall with your blade to him," X-ray asked, touching my shoulder.

"Some jerk smacked my butt and I warned him what would happen if he touched me again."

"Oh." He ran his fingers through my hair and rested his hand on my waist. "You look nice with your hair down like that."

I ran my hand over it self-consciously. "Thanks." I blushed, surprising myself. I hadn't blushed like that since I was 12, young and innocent enough to be shy. Even then, my hair was long. Only now, it went to my waist and then some. My friends at home always loved playing with my hair, braiding it, curling it, whatever. We kept on getting closer and closer until our noses were almost touching. (in case you're wondering, she's just barely shorter than him).

"Guys? Go get a room," Ricky ordered. "I don't want to see my sister kissing you, X-ray." We laughed nervously and backed away a little, acting as though this was the first time we'd liked someone.

He took my hand tentatively, his eyes shy behind his glasses, and we walked to the tent. It was deserted. We sat down on my cot. "Has anyone ever told you you're beautiful?" he asked. I shook my head. "Well, it's about time someone did." I reached up and touched his face, taking off his glasses. "Hey now. Now I can't see you."

"Who says you need to?" I asked. He smiled and put one hand behind my neck, the other on my back, and kissed my lips so sweetly he literally took my breath away. I kissed back, my hands shaking when I touched his face.

"Ahem." We broke off and saw Caveman and Zero standing there smirking at us. X-ray immediately grabbed his glasses and left, obviously embarrassed. "Sorry Cola, but-"

"It's fine. Don't worry about it." I smiled widely and flopped back on my cot, grinning at the prospect of having a boyfriend, even in a place like this.

"Well, someone sure is happy," Caveman laughed. I just smiled.

"Yeah. Geez, Cola, you'd think you'd won the lottery."

I laughed. "Okay, enough guys."

"But it's so much fun."

I smacked Zero with my pillow. He retaliated with his pillow. I swung for him again and hit Caveman when he ducked. He grabbed his own pillow and we went on hitting each other, forgetting where we were and how terrible it was, if only for five minutes. By the time we were done, we were laughing so hard we could barely walk to dinner. We got strange looks from everyone, which just made us laugh harder. I finally gave up on eating and went back to the tent. Caveman and Zero followed soon afterward. I was watching a few gnats fly in front of me and swatting at them constantly like I was trying to karate-chop them or something else just as ridiculous.

"I'm going to kung-fu you, BUGGY!" Zero yelled, imitating me. I rolled on the ground in helpless laughter, tears streaming down my face in rivers.

"Y'all are crazy," X-ray laughed when the rest of them came back. When we went to bed that night, I saw him smiling in his sleep.


	5. New girl

It wasn't until about two months later that anything... interesting happened again. And man, was it ever crazy.

"Uh, Squid? Are you having fun?" I asked as I walked into the tent after beating X-ray at pool... again. Squid was looking through my sketchbook and giggling like a little girl... funny stuff.

He immediately shut the book and sobered up, looking embarrassed. "Ummm..."

I grinned at him. "It's okay, man. I don't care. What were you looking at?" I asked, sitting next to him. He showed me a sketch I'd done of Ricky and I eating ice cream at the corner shop one hot summer day. I smiled. "Yeah... what was so funny about it?" I asked.

"Well, it wasn't that it was funny. But you can see that you love each other in that freaky brother-sister way. Y'all are close." His eyes glazed over a little. "I don't think I was ever close to anyone... not until here anyhow." He suddenly snapped back to the tough-guy Squid and shut the book. "Anyway. How are you and X? Everything okay in paradise?"

I laughed and punched his arm. "Shut up, Squid."

"I see y'all makin' out once in a while."

"Squid!" I laughed. "That's none of your business!!"

"So? I'll make it my business!" He declared.

I smiled devilishly and started tickling his ribs until he had tears running down his cheeks and was hysterical with laughter. "What the..." Armpit started to ask when he walked in the tent. He shook his head. "Never mind. I don't even wanna know. Cola, can I borrow your cards?"

"No. If Pendanski catches you, they get taken away. You know that. If they're gonna be used anywhere, it's in here." I was still doing my best to make Squid say uncle while I said this.

"OKAY! MERCY! PLEASE, COLA!" he cried.

"Fine. I'm gonna have to draw you like that. It was kinda cool looking." Ricky stormed in, angrier than I'd ever seen him. "Ricky? Are you all right, chico?"

He snarled. "There's a new kid. And it's a girl."

I grinned and stared to sing. "Hallelujah, hallelujah! Finally! I seriously can't wait to meet her. Not that I don't love you guys to death or anything, but, you know."

Squid laughed. "Cola, trust me. We'll be happy to have more than one girl around."

I grinned as Pendanski led a girl into the tent. She looked to be Afro-American and Hispanic. "Astrid, Ricky, Alan, Theodore, this is Naomi."

I snarled at Pendanski. "The _name_ is Cola. That's my brother, Zigzag. No one else calls him Ricky. That's Squid, that's Armpit." I smiled at Naomi. She looked to be about my age. Unlike me, she was curvy and voluptuous with black eyes and very long, straight, black hair. We actually looked like a picture and its negative. She smiled back, revealing perfect white teeth. "Nice to meet you."

Pendanski rolled his eyes and left as X-ray, Caveman, Zero, and Magnet walked in. "Who's this?" X-ray asked, obviously interested.

"Naomi. This is X-ray, Magnet, Caveman, and Zero." I glared at X-ray, but he didn't notice. He was too busy looking at the chest I didn't have. "X-ray." I pulled him out of the tent. "What the heck?!"

He shrugged. "I'm a _guy_, Cola."

I set my mouth in a thin line. "Well I'm your girlfriend." He looked blankly at me. I rolled my eyes. "X-ray! You are such a... a jerk! Get a life!" I yelled, storming away. I heard Squid running after me. Sad, I know, but I knew what they all sounded like when they ran by then.

"Cola! Get back here and tell me what the heck's going on!" he yelled. I jumped into a hole not full of lizards and he followed, grabbing me in a hug. "what is it?"

I couldn't help leaning into him. "X-ray's a jerk. All he wants is to get some. Did you see the way he was staring at her chest?" I started to cry.

He held me close to him, letting me know he was there for me. "Shhh... Come on, Cola. You'll be fine. I'll be the first to admit, guys are stupid."(AN: this is true) "It's in our nature to be stupid. Some of us are more stupid than others, but we all have a certain degree of stupidity." (Also true) "Hey, Candy broke up with me in her last letter because of something stupid I said." He sighed and stroked my hair. "He's just a guy, Astrid. You'll get over it with time, I promise."

I looked up at him. "What'd you say?"

He laughed. "She didn't say, and I honestly couldn't tell you. But it's fine. She's not nearly as sweet as you." I raised my eyebrows. "I didn't mean it like that! Besides, I think we make better friends than _friends_ if you know what I mean."

I smiled and hugged him. "Thanks Squid." His eyes got wide and his skin grew pale. He looked scared out of his mind. "Squid?"

He backed up against the wall, eyes darting everywhere. "Let me out! Ma! Please let me out!" He screamed, starting to cry. "Please! I promise I'll be good! Please Ma! I swear!" He wailed, curling up in a ball on the ground and rocking back and forth.

Somehow, I kept my cool and stroked his hair. "Squid... Squid, It's me, Astrid."

He looked at me and started freaking out more. "Please don't hurt me!" He sobbed, looking less like himself and more like a scared little boy by the second.

I climbed out of the hole. "MAGNET! CAVEMAN!" I screamed. They came running.

"What is it?" they asked in unison.

"Get Squid out of the hole. He's having flashbacks."

They jumped down and after a lot of dust flew, got him out. "Come on Cola. I think you scare him less than we do," Caveman told me. "You gotta bring him out of it."

I knelt beside him and wrapped him in a hug, stroking his hair. "Squid, it's me, Cola. Come on. You know me. I taught you to play King Mao, remember? I beat you in pool all the time. We talk while we dig. Come on, Squid. You're safe here."

He finally focused on me and breathed a sigh of relief. "Astrid," he whispered, holding on to me tightly. Caveman and Magnet left us alone. I swung my hair out before I sat next to him so I wouldn't sit on it. "I was so scared."

"I know. I'm glad you're back. You scared me, Squid," I told him. He wiped the tears from his eyes and tried to look tough again. I shook my head. "Squid, don't bother."

He chuckled. "I know." He refused to let go. "Thanks Astrid. I owe you."

"No, you don't. That's what friends are for. You don't owe me anything."

"Yeah, I do." He kissed me softly on the lips.

My jaw dropped to the ground. "What was that?" Not that I didn't like it. I did. A lot. And that scared me for some reason.

"A kiss."

"I'm not that stupid! What was that for?"

He looked at me, then looked away. "In case you haven't noticed, Astrid, I've liked you since that first night." I must have looked completely dumbfounded. "So it wasn't obvious. But the thing is, Astrid..." He shook his head. "Screw it. You obviously don't care." He got up and left, probably to the wreck room.

I just sat there, shocked, until Magnet came over and sat by me and stayed silent for once, waiting for me to talk first. "Did you know he liked me?"

He smiled and shook his head. "Everyone but you could see it, hermosa."(Beautiful) "Even X saw it." He looked closely at me. "He may not seem like it, but he likes girls like you. You know, sweet girls. Girls that wear decent clothes and don't try to show off to the world what they have, or don't have, or whatever... you know, stuff like that."

"How come he never said anything?" I asked after a pause.

"He's got the tact not to. He knew you were in a relationship." I put my head down and groaned. I'd told Squid everything, too. "Hey, don't worry about it. Let it blow over, it'll all be fine in about three or four days. Don't tear yourself up, chica."

"No... Iman," (Magnet) "I told him everything about our relationship... I feel so terrible about that..." I just started to cry. I was finally losing it, either that or I was about to start my period. Oh joy, oh bliss. He tucked something in my hand, patted my back hesitantly, and left. When I'd finally calmed myself down, I looked and saw the piece of paper in my hand was a letter from, guess who, Squid. I sighed and for a fleeting moment, thought of tearing it up, but curiosity got to me too quickly and I opened it.

_Dear Astrid, I know you probably think I'm a complete idiot, and I don't blame you. If anything at all though, could we still be friends? I value your friendship a lot. I don't want to lose that. I'll see you at dinner._

_Squid, a.k.a. Alan._

I folded the note and walked to the tent and stood outside so I could see in, but they couldn't really see me. Squid was in the circle with the rest, but he wasn't talking. I think that scared me the most. I took a deep breath and walked silently inside.

"And this is Cola. She's the first girl here, so she broke the ice for you. You got lucky, trust me. She'll tell you what you need to know, right?" X-ray asked me. I smiled at Naomi and nodded curtly at X-ray, glaring at him icily. He glared right back.

I lay back on my cot and sighed, looking at Zero. "Did you know?" I asked him. He nodded sheepishly. I sighed. "Why didn't you say anything?" He shrugged and looked away. Angry and losing my mind, I began to sing. "I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves. I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves and this is how it goes..." Over and over and over until everyone was either yelling at me to shut up or singing with me. That's about when the dinner bell rang.

I shut up and got my so-called "food", then sat down on the end of the bench across from Squid. I ate it mechanically, not able to taste anything anymore. "Cola?" Naomi asked quietly from her spot next to me. I looked at her. "Are you and X-ray..." I shook my head.

"No. He doesn't like girls with scrawny bodies like mine, apparently," I told her. She sighed and went back to talking with him. Squid tapped my hand. "What?" I asked quietly, trying to show that I was open with being friends with him again.

"Come with me." I shook my head. "Please, Cola. I swear to you, I just wanna talk," He said quietly. I sighed and left the table with him, following him to behind the tent. "Look, can we be friends... like we were before?"

"When did that change?" I asked. He smiled widely at me. I couldn't help but smile back. I mean, really. He's a charmer when he wants to be, even out in the heat of the sun, he always has time to smile at me. How can I _not_ like the guy... even if it is just as a friend.

"About that kiss..."

I bit my lower lip. "Yeah?"

"Uh, should we say it never happened? Or should we say that it did happen and we hated it? Or should we say, it happened, we liked it, but we both freaked out and decided to ignore it."

"Um, the last one," I said softly, totally unlike myself at all.

His eyes grew. "Really? You... So it wasn't... You really didn't..." he said more to himself than to me. Without thinking, I kissed him lightly on the cheek, a friendly gesture that Magnet and I exchanged occasionally. He looked surprised for a minute, then returned the same light kiss and hugged me. "Cola, you're awesome."

I flipped my hair. "Duh. Are you just noticing this now?" I joked. He rolled his eyes at me. I snatched his hat of his head and took off running around the tent, just in time to crash into Pendanski. "Sorry Mom!" I laughed, clutching the hat. He just gave me a letter and walked away, muttering something about craziness running in the family. It was from mom.

"Gimmie my hat!" Squid laughed as he ran into me. I wordlessly handed it back as I read the letter. "You okay?"

_Dear Astrid, I just thought I'd tell you that I had to sell the house. I got all of our things packed up and we're moving to Amboy, about 200 or so miles away. Dave was picked up by the police after one of the neighbors heard him hitting me. I'm sure you're _delighted_ about that. _

_Love, Mom._

A huge smile spread across my face. "Squid. Dave's gone. He's never gonna hurt us again! Where's Zigzag?" I asked excitedly. I was ready to kiss him (Squid) out of sheer joy.

"Right there. Mind if I read it?" he asked, motioning for the letter. I handed it over and waved at Ricky. "Amboy? I live just outside Amboy!"

"You're kidding me."

"Well, yeah, I am, but I don't live _too_ far."

"What?" Ricky asked, jogging toward me. I gave him the letter. He read it quickly and started to grin. "Yes! He's gone!"

"I'll have to come see you guys sometime," Squid said as we walked to the wreck room.

"You better," I laughed. He smiled and put his arm around me in a quick hug. I smiled up at him, then reached up and stole his hat and took off into the wreck room. I ran around with Squid chasing me, jumping over people on the floor and then quickly ducking under arms as I ran out the door, Squid still on my heels, just a few steps behind. "Don't you ever give up?" I yelled back to him.

"NO!" he yelled, grabbing the back of my shirt before I ran straight into a hole. I smacked into him, knocking both of us off our feet. We sat there a minute, breathing hard and grinning, too tired to laugh at ourselves. I put the hat on my head and he made no move to take it back, too busy staring at my leg... or rather, the tarantula crawling on it.

I screamed bloody murder and kicked it off my leg and into the hole. "That was a big spider," I whispered, calming down and picking up Squid's hat. It had fallen off in the process of me being scared out of my wits and I was surprised he hadn't picked it up.

"Yeah. I got that impression."

"Shut up, muchacho loco." He raised an eyebrow at me. "It means crazy boy. Didn't you ever pay attention in Spanish class?"

"I took French."

I smiled. "I'OH, je vois. Bien, you're un gentil type."(oh, I see. well, you're a nice guy)

He grinned back. "Merci," he laughed, standing. He held out his hand to me. I took it and he pulled me up so I was barely an inch away from him. I blushed and stepped away slightly, my hand still in his. We stood there, staring at each other, until lights out.


	6. leaving

That night, I couldn't sleep. I was wide awake the entire night, watching Squid sleep. He never really snored, but he was breathing louder than normal. Suddenly he shot up in bed, sweat pouring off him, hands shaking. "Damn." Was all he said before laying back down, obviously not noticing that I was awake and watching him. He looked straight at me but didn't see me staring back at him. He reached out and took my hand. "I love you, Astrid," he whispered.

I propped myself up on my elbow. "I love you too."

He jumped about five feet in the air. "What the... were you awake?"

"Yeah. I never fell asleep." He just shook his head and rolled over, facing away from me. "Squid?" I sat at his feet. He sighed and looked at me. "What's with you? You're acting like...."

"A jackass?" he suggested.

"Well, yeah."

"Good, I didn't want you to miss me."

"What?" I asked in a whisper-scream. (you know, when you don't want anyone to hear you but you scream? Yeah, that.)

He sighed. "This is living hell... well, not compared to my home life, but... you know. So I was gonna leave tomorrow night, but you're gonna try and stop me now, right?" he said in one breath.

"No... not necessarily."

"So, what ARE you going to do?"

I grinned. "Want some company?"

"You're nuts."

"And you're not?" I challenged.

He blushed. "Well..."

(cut to the next night)

"Squid. Get your lazy butt out of bed," I whispered after I'd filled our extra canteens with water and evenly distributed the cans of beans in our backpacks, along with the two sheets we'd decided to bring. He stirred slightly. I kissed him, right on the lips, knowing it was the only thing that might wake him.

He opened his eyes. "What time is it?" he mumbled, sitting up.

"11:30. Come on, we really have to go. Everything's ready," I told him while I braided my hair and secured it with a rubber band. Then I put my hat on and picked up my backpack which also had a lot of... erm... feminine supplies.

He shook his head, then put on his own hat and backpack. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be." We walked right out of camp. It took until dawn to get past the holes, and when we finally did, we fell asleep next to each other in the hot sun with our hats covering our faces.

"Astrid. Get up. We have to keep going," he said, leaning over me. It was midday. I rubbed my eyes and put my hat back on and we kept walking. "What's that?" he asked, pointing to a brown lump in the distance.

I squinted. "A brown lump."

He laughed. When we got closer, we saw it was a boat with Mary Lou written on the side. "Mary Lou, huh? This must've been her boyfriend's boat."

I smirked. "Or maybe it was named after a donkey," I joked. He snorted and looked at an opening between the ground and the boat for a minute, then went in.

"It's so nice and cool down here. C'mon, Astrid!" I slid in and sat next to Squid. It really was cool down there. "See?"

I shut my eyes. "No, I can't see."

"As-trid!" he almost whined. "I'm hot, I'm-"

"Darn right you are!" I laughed, poking his ribs.

He groaned. "Please... just cut it out!" He snapped. "Leave me alone."

As if I would listen. I simply hugged him and refused to let go, even when he tried to shake me off. "No way, muchacho loco. We're stuck together. You better get used to it."

He finally gave in and hugged me back. "You know, it's really hard to be mad at you."

I laughed out loud and grabbed a jar of... something or other. It didn't open easily at all. I cracked the lid off. "Cheers!" I drank it slowly, letting the sweetness slide down my throat. I handed it to Squid. "Try this. It tastes like peaches."

He drank it cautiously, then smiled. "Sweet."

I tried opening another jar. It opened easily. "Better not drink from the ones that open too easy. We'll get sick... you know, bacteria?" He nodded and I started looking for my sketchbook. I found it and my pencils and started to sketch him drinking the... the... sploosh, a smile on his face. "Wanna sleep now and walk more at night?" I asked when I was done, not looking up. When he didn't answer I looked and saw that he was sound asleep. I closed the book and rested my head on his chest.

We must have slept straight through to the next day, because when Squid woke me up, the sun was rising. "Come on, belle" (beautiful) "We have to keep going." I got up and we put a few empty jars in our backpacks. "What does that mountain look like to you?"

I looked where he was pointing and slowly raised my thumb from my fist. He nodded and we kept walking, this time towards the mountain. When we began to climb, I went first. Stupidly. "Who decided I had to go first?" I gasped when we got to the second ledge.

"You."

"Oh yeah. Why the heck are we climbing a mountain anyway?"

"So we can look and see if we can see any type of civilization from the top," he said patiently, as if explaining to a small child. I didn't care. We rested for a while, then started climbing again, forcing ourselves to go, even though we felt like dying right then and there. "Keep going, ma fille."(my girl) I smiled despite the fact that my hands felt ready to fall right off my wrists and pulled myself up on the ledge, then reached down for him. "No. just give me a second. I can do it myself, belle," he insisted.

"Cut it out, Alan." I grabbed his hand and with a little help from him, got him to the ledge where we both collapsed in a heap, sprawled together, breathing hard. Too tired to do much more, he kissed my hand, the closest part of me to his face. And there we slept, tired, sore, and together. The next time I woke, it was midnight, and I could feel him watching me. "What?" I asked sleepily.

"I love you," he said quietly, totally unlike himself.

My heart skipped a beat. "I... I love you too." He kissed me. This time, I didn't freak out. I kissed him back, not thinking about what was happening for once, letting my crazy emotions rule me. He pulled my hair out of the braid and shook it out, slipping the rubber band over his wrist. My hands were in his hair when we stood to dance in the spotlight of the full moon to a silent melody. No words were said, but we both knew. We were young and in love, and we didn't care that we were sharing our first dance on the side of a mountain in the moonlight. It just made everything that much more special and romantic.

The next morning, we continued climbing, but this time, nothing could touch us. We didn't feel the pain in our hands, arms, and legs. We'd found the love, and that was all that mattered. When we finally got to the top, we jumped in the water, laughing like two kids at Christmas who'd gotten exactly what they wanted. "Astrid?"

"Alan?" I mimicked, rolling over on my side to look at him.

"Are we actually going to go home, or..."

"Why?" I asked, sensing he was going to say something pretty important.

"Well, you're... what, 16?" I nodded. "Well, I'm almost 18... I think. I don't quite know the date, but..." I waited patiently for him to go on. "You do realize we're gonna be in major trouble."

I shook my head. "What she was doing was cruel and unusual punishment. We had to get out. Trust me, when they find us, I'll have it figured out. Let's just have fun while it lasts." He still looked slightly apprehensive. I splashed him with the water. "Come on. Let's stay here for a while, get some rest, then keep going. We're young, we can make it up as we go along."

He shook his head. "You're nuts. But," he took the toothpick from his mouth. "You're right, and you're beautiful, and that's all that matters." I blushed. He took my hands in his. "You know, we knew early that a girl was coming. We were all wondering what you'd be like, and hoping you'd be... I don't know. But what we imagined? It didn't even come close to you, belle fille." I looked away shyly, surprised I remembered how to be shy anymore.

"Oh, come on..."

He laughed. "Seriously! Come on, Astrid, give yourself some credit. You're the most beautiful girl I've ever met." I rolled my eyes. "I know for a fact that every guy in that camp was drooling over you, even when Naomi came. Sure, she's pretty, no one could deny that, but you're a different type of beautiful. You're not a show-off."

"Then what am I? Enlighten me, Alan."

"When you eat, people stop and stare because they're surprised that you're a mortal. That's what you are. You're a siren, Astrid." He sighed. "You know, you don't seem to trust my judgment. If I tell you you're beautiful and you don't believe me..." he looked away.

The look in his eyes killed me. I took my hand from his and traced a single finger down his jaw. "I love you. I trust you're judgment." I kissed him lightly on the lips. He kissed back hungrily. I followed his lead, losing myself in him. He rolled on top of me and started kissing my neck, probably leaving hickeys. I just buried my face in his hair... he was in dire need of a haircut, but I like that look. I drank in his scent, and even though I knew it was impossible for either of us to smell like anything but onions, I could have sworn I smelled some sort of cologne. (AN: I love the smell of guy's cologne. OMG, it smells soooo good.) When he finally stopped kissing me, he didn't roll off of me, but just rested his head on my chest. "How many hickeys did you leave?"

"Does it matter?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm just curious," I said lazily, kissing his fingertips one by one. He blushed slightly and held up three fingers. I smiled at him. "Okay. Where are they?" He touched just above my collar bone, just a little away from my left ear, and somewhere in the middle of those two places. I smiled. I mean, really, what else could I do? It's hard for me to get mad at him. Besides, they were just hickeys. No big thing.

"Are you mad at me?" he asked, finally rolling off of me. I shook my head, looking deep into his eyes. "Oh, okay. Just checking." I secretly wished he hadn't gotten off, but didn't say anything. I just moved closer to him and rested my head on his chest while we slept the day away in each other's arms.


	7. songs on a mountaintop

I woke up before he did and went to the top of the mountain, wishing everyone else was there. Well, except for X-ray. Maybe then, we could... I don't know. Be there together at the very least. I sighed as I watched the sunrise, a song coming to mind.

"My gift is my song... and this one's for you.

And you can tell everybody that this is your song

It may be quite simple, but now that it's done

Hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind

That I put down in words, how wonderful life is

Now you're in the world...

I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss

Well some of these verses well they, they got me quite cross

But the sun's been quite kind while I wrote this song

It's for people like you that I keep it turned on

So excuse me for forgetting, but these things I do

You see, I've forgotten if they're green or they're blue

Anyway the thing is – what I really mean

Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen

And you can tell everybody that this is your song

It may be quite simple but now that it's done

Hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind

That I put down in words...

How wonderful life is, now you're in the world

I hope you don't mind

I hope you don't mind

That I put down in words...

How wonderful life is...

Now you're in the world..."(AN: That's the BEST song from Moulin Rouge!!) I sang, smiling when I saw his shadow over me. When he sat next to me, he just looked at me. Staring, almost. "yeah?"

"If you hadn't been singing, I woulda thought you'd left." I cocked my head to one side, confused. "Astrid, I'm so in love with you..." he trailed off quietly. I liked him like this. When no one else was around, the walls of protection came crashing down, trusting me not to hurt him. It was the same with me, but it was a more obvious change with him. "I just keep having this... this... nightmare where I wake up and I can't find you... it creeps me out."

I ran my fingers through his hair. "That won't happen. Ever." He sighed and leaned into me, obviously still tired but not wanting to sleep. "I don't wanna close my eyes, I don't wanna fall asleep, 'cause I'd miss you baby, and I don't wanna miss a thing...." I whispered in his ear.

"What is it with you and singin' today?" He laughed.

I shrugged. "I felt like it."

He just smiled. "Whatever. You know, I'm real glad you came with me. It'd be lonely up here... alone. And we both know how well I do alone. If you weren't here, I'd be a wreck by now."

I laughed. "Now you wouldn't. You'd be fine and you know it. You're a tough guy..."

He cracked up. "You know how I was around the guys? That was an act. This, me right now? This is more real than I've ever been." I raised my eyebrows. "You've broken down every wall I ever built around myself."

"Oh?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I can't explain it. It just happened. I don't know how, but I know why." I waited while he looked away for a minute, then looked back at me. "you just did. You showed actual love towards me. I don't ever remember that, except with Candy, and even with her, it wasn't real."

I slowly shook my head. "yeah, but-"He cut me off, pressing his lips to mine, kissing me with so much... raw emotion. I kissed back, returning the feeling. All we wanted right then was to kiss, but suddenly his hands were under my shirt, touching my bare skin. I froze. "Stop."

He moved away. "I'm... I'm so sorry. I... I..." his hands shook. "Please, I..." he stood and slowly walked down to the onion patch.

I sat there for a while, then looked down and saw him staring at a piece of broken glass in his hands. "Alan!" I scrambled down the thumb as he stared at the glass. When I reached him, I started kissing him with all I had. He dropped the glass and closed his eyes while I kissed his face and neck, shivering almost when I kissed his collarbone. "I love you so much."

"Even after..."

"Yes." I kept kissing him.

"That feels good...." He mumbled, starting to kiss back. Now I shivered when he kissed my neck. I have never fallen in love so fast before... correction. I'd never fallen in love. It was scary and crazy, but it felt right. Especially with him. He knew me inside and out without either of us saying a word, and I loved that. I'm a hopeless romantic at heart, I admit it.

When we pulled apart, I just kept my head rested on his chest, wanting to hear his heart beating. That's how I fell asleep and woke up. It couldn't have been more than an hour's nap because the sun was still high in the sky. I was laying with my head on his chest and he was sweating and mumbling incoherently. "Alan?" I whispered.

He shot up, gasping. "NO!!" Just like I used to do when I was still at home and terrified of being killed in my sleep. His eyes darted around wildly and then he sighed with relief. He shook his head and swallowed against a dry throat, clearing his head. "What's with these dreams?" he asked, more to himself than to me.

"Do you want to tell me about them? Maybe it'd help if someone knew."

He ran his hands through his hair and looked down. "Okay. It starts out that I'm with you, in my house, when ma comes in, drunk off her ass, and starts ranting and raving about you being over all the time, then stars hitting me... and you because you're trying to get her off of me. Every time, you fight like you've got 50 arms, but every time, you wind up in the hospital no matter how hard I try to derail her." His voice was barely above a whisper when he told me this, but I heard every word.

I brushed hair from his forehead. "It's only a dream. I'll be fine, you'll be fine. It's just you worrying too much. Calm down. It's not as if she's here right now." I sighed. "Man, we get all the bad dreams. We gotta save some for everyone else."

"You get them to?" he asked. I nodded. "Why don't you tell me?"

"You're already having nightmares. I don't want you worrying about me."

He shook his head, smiling. "Naw, see, that's what I'm here for. You're always worrying about me. It's my turn, belle."

I smiled back. "Okay, well, they start out with..."

(cackles Cliffhanger! Don't you just LOVE those? Well, sorry this took so freaking long, but I had major writes block, plus my ex was being an ass.)


	8. You mean that?

"Okay, well, they start out with Dave beating me and Ricky, then laughing, locking us up in the bedroom, the closet, wherever. Then he goes out drinking, and I can hear him raping my mother. She still loved him after all that, I don't know why. Then he comes up and kills Ricky first, then just as he's about to kill me, I wake up."

He blinked. "Damn. I can see how that'd be..."

"Terrifying?"

"Yeah. But anyway. I'm getting sick of this place, aren't you?"I asked, quickly changing the depressing topic. He nodded cautiously, obviously wondering where I was going with this. "Well, whaddya say we start going?"

"Where?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Who cares?" He smirked and shook his head.

"When do we leave?"

I laughed. "Wanna leave today?"

"Sure, why not? It's not like we've got anything to do up here."

We set to work filling our canteens and the glass jars with water, then putting onions around them in our backpacks. I had to arrange things carefully so my tampons and sketchbook wouldn't get wet- hopefully. 'Cause then I'd just be screwed. And embarrassed out of my mind. And well, yeah, you get the idea. I pulled the comb from my bag and combed my hair, which was in dire need of some shampoo, then pulled it into a tight braid. My hair was no longer the color of unbleached silk, but of dark straw from oil and dirt. We both smelled terrible, like onions, sweat, dirt, and something unrecognizable, but nasty all the same. "So, do you want to do something to commemorate our last day here?" I asked.

He thought a minute. "How about you dance? Give me a couple pencils, I'll give you the beat." I shrugged and pulled two pencils from my bag. He experimented a bit before finding something he liked. I shook out my hair, closed my eyes, and started moving to the beat he created, my hair spinning, arms, legs, hips, all moving independently. "Yeah!" he yelled. I just kept moving, losing myself in the moment until my body didn't want to move anymore and I collapsed into his arms. "Wanna rest a while before we go?"

"No, I wanna run!" I said sarcastically. "Here's your sign," I muttered.

He just rolled his eyes and tugged me into his lap. "Oh, shut up." I laughed and relaxed into his arms. "You know, you're a really good dancer."

I shrugged. "Hey, you don't go VHS for nothing. Man, every girl there thought she was straight out of the Bronx. So did all the guys. All a bunch of rich white boys tryin' to be low-mid-class black boy thugs. Sad. But I learned to dance there, so, ya know."

"Vega high school? I went to Amboy High. Were you that girl that was in all the dace competitions that Candy loved to hate?"

"Probably. Why?"

He shook his head. "I was just noticing what a small world this is." I smiled up at him. We sat for a while, then when we were ready, we started slowly walking/climbing down the mountain, careful not to break the jars. It must've taken at least 2 hours because of the terrain. Then we just started walking across the desert. It took three days of sweat, exhaustion, and occasional tears on my part, but we found a road. A deserted road, but a road no less. If I hadn't been so tired, I would have danced.

"Civilization, sort of."

I laughed weakly. "Come on. Let's keep going. It's not over yet." And so we walked. And walked. And WALKED! Then we came to a fork in the road. Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, I thought to myself. One looked as if it hadn't been traveled on for years, but another had dirt that was slightly packed, and I could tell it'd been driven on before. We nodded at each other and kept walking, too tired to say much. Whenever a car drove by, we put our thumbs up, but no one stopped. Of course not. Who wanted to pick up two kids dressed in prison-like jumpsuits? I looked up at one point and saw a little tiny Motel. "Alan? You see that?"

He looked where I was pointing. "The tumble weed?"

"No, the motel!"

He shook his head. "Trust me, sugar, there's no motel."

I sighed and we kept walking, looking at the road. After what seemed like weeks (but was actually three days) I tripped on a chunk of asphalt. "What the hell" I looked up and saw what he was seeing. "Alan! It's a town!" I cried, hugging him tightly. He hugged back wordlessly. The name of the town was Flowers. Population 350. We walked down the sidewalk of the sleepy town, mostly looking for a place to stay. I may not have money, but I've got charm. I saw a little hotel on Main street called the Carnation. "Come on. Let's try it."

"Okay" He followed me inside.

The receptionist was a kind-looking woman in her early forties with glasses and a sweet smile. "May I help you?"

I sighed. "Ma'am, we really need a room. See, we... well, we ran away, and we don't have any money and-"

"You're those two from Greenlake, aren't you?"

I could feel Alan cringe as I answered, "Yes."

She shook her head. "I've heard horror stories about that place. Well, we don't get a lot of business, but you could help out to earn your stay. You know, make beds and such. And don't worry, no one will ever know you're here." She shuffled things around on her desk and gave us a key. "There's only one bed, but I'm sure you'll manage. If you need anything, you know, toothbrush, comb, razor or what have you, come to me and I'll find something."

"Uh, could we get a razor, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and some extra shampoo?" I asked immediately. She smiled and got the items for me. "Thank you miss," I said as she gave us our room key and sent us along.

"How did you do that?" He asked as we walked into the smallish room.

I smiled. "Hey, I can charm people just as well as the next girl. You wanna shower first or should I?"

"After you."

I ran in and took off my clothes, unbraided my hair, and got into the warm shower, washing my hair, shaving my legs, and brushing my teeth. It must have taken at least half an hour, but it was worth it. I was Astrid again.

When I walked out clad only in a towel, Alan ran in. After a few minutes of channel surfing, there was a knock at the door. I opened it to find the receptionist (who was also the owner from what I gathered) holding pajamas, jeans, T-shirts, sports bras, and packaged underwear and boxers. "Hello."

She smiled. "I thought you might need a few things. They may not fit right, so I brought you each a belt. I hope you li-"

I grinned at her. "Thank you so much." She smiled and left. I closed the door and changed into a pair of pajamas. 15 minutes later, he came out of the shower and stared at me. "They're from her. Either she has a donation box or she owns the clothing store as well. Come on, get dressed." I went into the bathroom to get our old clothes and put them in the bag the place oh-so-conveniently provided.

"Hey Astrid, what are we gonna do about food? I'm starved." I walked out and saw he was wearing a pair of blue pajama pants and a white shirt. And was clean, and smelled incredibly good compared to about an hour ago.

I ran my fingers through my drying hair which was white blonde again and shrugged. "Let's ask her." I took his hand and grabbed our key as we walked out to the desk. She sat there, reading White Oleander. "Excuse me, Miss? What about food?"

She smiled at us. "Oh, I was going to come down with some spaghetti once I finished this chapter. Just a minute." She ducked into a back room and came back with two Styrofoam bowls of spaghetti and plastic forks. "Here you are."

"Thank you," we said as we left. We ate hungrily, then climbed into bed, sighing at its softness.

"Astrid?" I looked over at him. He held something tightly in his hand. I sat up straight. "Will you marry me? I mean, when we're both old enough."

I started to cry. "Yes!" I cried. He smiled and put the silver band on my thumb, the only finger it would fit. There was a tanline on his index finger where he used to wear it. I started to laugh.

He laughed with me. "Yeah." He pulled me to him. I fell asleep, safe in his arms. I woke up around midnight to find him staring lovingly into my eyes. I stared right back, my heart pounding straight out of my chest. We were both shaking when he touched my face. I closed my eyes and lost myself in his touch, not caring because I knew I was in love, and I knew he loved me back. I almost froze when he tentatively touched my bare skin, but didn't. I allowed him to feel the scars that resided on my back. "Who did this?" he asked, stopping and pulling away.

"Dave."

He shook his head. "You don't deserve to be treated like that."

"No one does." I turned on the lamp. "Look." I turned my back to him and took off my shirt. He traced the scars. I turned towards him, covering myself. He could still see the scars on my breasts, though. And all around my stomach from Dave's knives and glass from broken windows and too many people and too much stress and...

He peeled off his own shirt. It was also like a cross-hatching of scars. Some looked deliberate, but others looked like mine- broken glass scars, mostly. "She'd break off the end of a beer bottle or bourbon bottle or whatever and use it like a knife. She hated me. Said I was a mistake. I guess I am," He shrugged.

I grabbed his shoulders, uncovering my chest but not caring. "No, you're not. If you're a mistake, then I am too, but I'm not! I have a reason to live again, Alan! You. You get inside my head easily because you've been there too. I value that. I love you so much, and I am going to marry you when I'm 18 because I love you for _YOU_ and not your past. I want to be with you more than anything else."

He stared at me in total disbelief. He looked first into my eyes, then slowly down to my chest, then snapped back up to my eyes. "You mean that?" I nodded and pulled my shirt back on. The smile on his face was like looking straight into the sun, I swear it. His whole face lit up like candles on a birthday cake as he pulled me into a hug. "I love you."


	9. Together again

I know this chapter kinda sucks, but deal with it, okay? I'm swamped and I'm not thinking right lately. peace out and rock on!!

The next four days were nice. We got to sleep and eat and shower like real people. We were kept away from people, but that was fine. We had each other and our stories of camp. That was the calm before the storm. One day we were looking out of our window and we saw Pendanski's truck. We looked at each other in terror. 'We're screwed!' I thought to myself as we put the clothes that Mrs. Strong gave us into our backpacks. We watched carefully. Then a little movement under a half-cover in the back caught my eye and a little of Zero's hair poked through.

"Alan! I think some of the guys are in the back. Let's go through the window and get the heck outta here!" I said, opening the window.

"Okay, but if we get caught, I'm blaming you," He warned.

I laughed. "Alright. Fair enough." We climbed out the window and knocked on the covering. "Guys? Who's back there?" I asked.

Naomi stuck her head out of the opening. "Everybody. I'll hot-wire it. X, you come up with me. We don't want nobody dead back here."

They ran up front and we climbed in the back. We were off in under a minute. Ricky wouldn't let go of me. "I missed you."

I half-choked from the lack of air. "I missed you too, Ricky, but could you let me breathe?" He complied and Zero was next to cut off my air supply. I had to laugh. He was like a cuddly teddybear. "Hey Z."

He grinned up at me. "I missed you, Cola."

I just smiled. "Missed you too. I'm going to kung-fu you, buggy!" I whispered in his ear. He started to laugh.

Magnet waved at me from across the truck bed. "Hey, hermosa! Consiga su asno blanca flaca aqui y abraceme!" (hey beautiful! Get your skinny white ass over here and hug me!)

I rolled my eyes. "No. Por que debo? Usted acaba de llamarme una muchacha blanca flaca! Por que el infirno debo abrazarle?" I teased. (No. Why should I? You just called me a skinny white girl! Why the hell should I hug you?)

He smiled sweetly. "Porque usted me ama. Y porque le falte. Te amo Astrid." (Because you love me. And because I missed you. I love you Astrid.) He said in a syrupy sweet voice and gave me puppy eyes I couldn't resist. I hugged him tightly. He held on to me. "La vez promixa usted funciona, deja una nota. Naomi era hysterical por tres dias. Y fui preocupado de usted a partir del tiempo que le encomtramos hacia fuera fuimos idos hasta que le vimos, "he said sincerely. (Next time you run, leave a note. Naomi was hysterical for three days. And I was worried about you from the time we found out you were gone until we saw you.)

I sighed. "I missed you guys too." We drove well into the night, napping on and off, switching drivers every once in a while. Ricky never left my side. When I woke up from one of my many naps, Zero had his head in my lap, Alan was using my foot as a pillow, Caveman was using Zero's foot as a pillow, Ricky had his arm around me, Naomi was asleep in X-ray's lap, and X was awake, watching me. Magnet and Armpit were driving. "What?" I asked quietly.

He sighed. "Listen Cola, I missed you."

I pursed my lips. "And I'm supposed to care?" I asked haughtily.

"I wish you would. We're a good team, leader-wise. I told everyone that when I left, I wanted you to take over. But, ya know, we're not at Greenlake anymore. But still."

I sighed. "Listen X, I know we're a good team. But that doesn't mean that I'll get all friendly again. You screwed that up majorly. Squid and I... we're together now. And we love each other. Just leave me alone, okay?" He nodded and turned away, looking at Naomi. The truck sputtered and slowed to a stop. "Crap."

The guys woke up tiredly, mumbling. Naomi stayed asleep. "Yo Mag, what's wrong?" I asked.

He opened the window to the truck bed. "We ran outta gas."

Zero walked over to the five gallon gas can. "I think this has some in it."

"Hand it here," Armpit said. Zero handed it over and he filled the tank. "Alright, someone's gotta take over driving. We're beat."

"Not it old school," Alan suggested. I knew what 'not it' was. We did that in grade school to decide who would be 'it' and whoever was last to yell 'NOT IT' was 'it'.

Caveman and I both yelled, "NOT IT!"

Every one laughed at us. "I said old school. Whoever yells it first has to do it. Get up front you two," He laughed. I swatted at him and Caveman and I went up front.

I drove first. It was a stick shift, just my style. I learned on a stick shift when I was13 and had been driving them ever since. "Hey, Cola...."

"yeah?" I asked.

He rolled down the window. "Did you and Squid.... You know... uh.."

I laughed. "Have sex? No. But we're gonna get married when I'm 18."

His eyes got big. "Sweet."

I couldn't help grinning. "I know." We drove in silence for a while, then I looked over a him. "Do you have a girlfriend?" His head jerked up and he shook his head, blushing. I had to smile. He's a cute guy.

We drove in silence for a while until he noticed that I was falling asleep. "Hey, you want me to drive? You're falling asleep at the wheel." I braked and we switched places. "Cola... where are you going home to?"

I smiled. "I have a savings account that I've been having money put into since I was 8. No one but me knows about it, so me and Ricky are probably gonna have to live in an apartment or something. It'll be cool. We get along pretty good."

He laughed. "Yeah. He was freaking out when he saw that you were gone." I nodded, smiling. "Go to sleep. You look like you need it." I happily complied.

When I woke up a few hours later, we were stopped in the desert and the trucks gas gauge was on empty. I rolled my eyes and got out to where everyone was sitting in the sand. "It's about time, Cola," Magnet laughed. I took his bandanna and tied it around my head. He rolled his eyes and snatched it back in a nanosecond. "Mine. As in not yours."

I sat down next to Alan and he put his arm around me. "What's going on?"

"We're out of gas. Either we wait for Pendanski to come find us, or we keep running. Either way, we'll get caught eventually. We need your vote on what to do. We're tied with Naomi undecided."

Ricky and I locked eyes. "Let's run. I have a bunch of money in my savings account. We can do it. It could be... fun."

"Woo! Go Cola!" Pit yelled. I laughed. That boy is so strange. Gotta love 'im though. If you can stand the smell, he's a big teddybear.

"Come on, guys. If we sleep during the day and walk at night, it'll be a lot better. Let's at least get started," X spoke up. We all nodded and got up, ready for whatever might be thrown at us. This would be an adventure, I could tell.


End file.
